


my chemical romance

by hvllanders



Series: interwebs [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Precious Ned Leeds, Precious Peter Parker, i just love both my sons, interwebs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 10:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19018099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hvllanders/pseuds/hvllanders
Summary: Ned x Peter x chemicals x boyfriends (???)In which they both miss school, Peter gets burned, and Ned wonders if he's allowed to call Peter his boyfriend yet.





	my chemical romance

It wasn’t often Ned Leeds skipped class.

4.5 GPAs weren’t supported by delinquency, and as such, ditching wasn’t usually on Ned’s to-do list. Plus, he kind of liked school. School meant learning and problem-solving and daydreaming about computer programming. And he got to hang out with Peter.

But Peter, naturally, was the reason he was skipping class in the first place. Probably the only reason he was skipping class in the first place. Because when your boyfriend (well, were they boyfriends? It was hard to navigate when you had been best friends with someone for years until suddenly you kissed and it was weird but also kind of nice and now you held hands sometimes but you had held hands before so was this a new kind of hand holding or the old kind of hand holding and what would happen if you kissed again?). Well, when your Peter Parker doubled as a part-time superhero, things could get a little…messy.

Peter had been staking out a string of chemical related break-ins for over a week now, and he had gotten a lead that the criminal was going to be in the area during lunch. He’d figured it wouldn’t be too big of a deal to slip out. No one would notice- right?

“I’ll notice,” Ned told him, drawing a long sip of chocolate milk and pretending that his hands weren’t shaking. He was okay with his boyfriend (friend? buddy? eternal crush that would never go away?) doing his Spider-Manning most of the time. Some of the time.

But Peter just laughed in his carefree way. “I’ll be back within the hour. Don’t worry about me.”

Needless to say, he was not back within the hour. Instead, Ned had gotten a harried phone call to meet him back at the Parker’s apartment and to _be discreet_. As if he was going to be anything else.

_Well, you did want to tell the whole school he was Spider-Man at one point,_ a small voice reminded him. _You still kind of do._

Whatever.

Ned paced Peter’s bedroom as he waited. Five steps from the door to the window. Four from the dresser to the cluttered desk. Not that he’d been counting. He was moments from calling Peter again and demanding to know what _exactly_ was going on when the window pane screeched open and Spider-Man stumbled through.

Ned reached for him, hands fumbling to pull Peter into the room. “What have you done? What’s wrong? You were so vague over the phone.”

“Well,” Peter pulled off his mask, hair floating around him in a static pool, “good news is that I got the guy.”

“And the bad news?” Because there was always bad news. And Peter’s face was much too white, and his hands were shaking much too fast.

“Bad news is he got me with the chemicals. And my hands are shaking so I can’t get off the suit. And it really hurts.” He stumbled forward, tripping into Ned’s arms, and Ned grunted as he took on the sudden weight. “Like bad.”

“Shit.” Ned’s voice cracked and squeaked, and he guided Peter to his bed, trying to set him down gently, though it ended up being more of a dump. He fumbled with the arms of Peter’s suit, babbling as he tried to pull it from his shoulders. “Why do you always have to have the bravado moment first? It’s like, I can’t trust that after anything you tell me you won’t just spontaneously collapse.”

But his attempt at levity was lost on the boy below him. Peter’s face was screwed up tight, breaths hissing through his teeth. “I know. I’m sorry. Please just help me get this off me. Please.”

“I’m trying, I’m trying.” Ned yanked harder at the neck of the suit to no avail. It was like spandex made of steel. “Your thing is so tight, I can’t, I can’t-”

“The spider. Press the spider,” Peter gasped.

“What?”

Peter’s hand scrabbled to the center of his chest, grasping at the spider on the suit. Ned caught on, pressing down on the emblem and watching as the entire suit deflated.

“Okay, okay, I got it, okay.” He yanked the suit off Peter’s shoulders, inching it down his body, over his chest. He tried not to think about all the times he had envisioned this moment, envisioned Peter sliding off his clothes, being shirtless together, kissing Peter’s collarbone. Now, though, all he could think about was the bright red splotches blossoming over Peter’s chest, Peter shaking below him.

“Get it off, get it off.”

“I’m trying.” Ned’s voice sounded wobbly and not his own. “I’m trying. You need to lift your hips.”

Peter panted, lifting upwards so Ned could finally wriggle the thing off his body, yanking it off his calves and feet in a way that would have been comical had he not been trembling. “Okay, okay, I got it.”

Peter shivered before him, angry red skin snaking its way up his hips and across his chest. Ned reached a hand out to touch his shoulder but hesitated, afraid touching him would hurt. “We need to rinse this off you. Before it burns more.”

“I can’t move,” Peter hissed from between his teeth.

“I’ll help you.”

Ned slid a deft arm underneath Peter’s shoulders, lugging him upwards so they could trip into the single bathroom together. “Here,” he pushed Peter toward the shower.

“I have my boxers on,” Peter slurred, hands motioning loosely to his hips.

“It’s fine.” Ned impatiently helped him into the water, flipping on the spray. For a moment everything seemed alright, but then Peter’s face blanched further, and he swayed precariously, tipping forward. “Oh, for fucks sake.”

So, what was there left to do but climb in the shower. He held onto Peter’s shoulders, letting the boy lean back against his chest for support. He prayed he wouldn’t slip and fall; Ned Leeds was far from the pinnacle of balance and agility. Now, however, he felt steady as a rock. He wouldn’t fall- he couldn’t fall.

“Here,” he spun Peter so he was more directly facing the spray, hands squeezing his shoulders as the water hit his chest. Peter tried to flinch away, his face screwed up and pinched, but Ned held him still. “Just a little longer, I promise. Okay?”

“Hurts.” His voice was so small- that of a little child’s.

Ned pressed a kiss to Peter’s wet forehead.

It was only after his lips were against Peter’s curls that he realized what he had done, but it didn’t feel strange. Just…instinctual. Comforting. He was scared, so scared, but he knew he couldn’t show it. He had to be strong. “It’ll be okay. Look. You’re already starting to heal.”

And it was true. Peter’s skin was beginning to clear, red fading to less angry pinks. His breathing was less ragged, more even. Eventually, after the water had started to cool to a lukewarm patter and both boys’ clothes were past soaking, Ned rubbed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “You feeling better?”

Peter nodded.

“Kay.” Ned took careful steps out of the shower, keeping his hands on Peter the entire time, though the other boy was looking much steadier on his feet. “Careful.” Peter gripped his hand, climbing out of the water’s spray. “It’s really wet.”

Everything was sopping at this point, dripping onto the wood floor. It didn’t matter, though. Not now.

He watched Peter carefully as they made their way back to his room, but he hadn’t been lying earlier. He was looking better. Color was returning to his face, features relaxing back to a soft, un-pinched expression.

“Sorry about that,” Peter mumbled as he collapsed down on to the bed, Ned plopping down beside him. He didn’t seem to care about the giant puddle of water they were both trailing everywhere.

“It’s okay,” Ned said, though it was really anything but. “Comes with the job, I guess?”

Peter smiled weakly, but it was a smile all the same. “Yeah, I guess.”

Suddenly it became painfully obvious that Peter was nearly unclothed, or rather, not very clothed at all, and though Ned was still in his t-shirt and jeans from school, he was soaking wet because he had just been in the shower. With Peter. Who was not very clothed.

Peter’s face pinked as well, and both boys looked elsewhere.

Peter was the first to break the silence with an awkward chuckle. “I have to admit, when I imagined getting undressed in front of you for the first time, this wasn’t how it went.”

They had, of course, changed in front of each other countless times, but this, this had felt different. The first time since they had kissed.

“It wasn’t how I imagined it either,” Ned said honestly, and Peter’s smile grew wider.

“Nothing like some mild chemical burns to corrode your expectations for romance.”

He reached out for Ned’s hand, and Ned took it, smiling back, leaning in, closer, just to make sure he was alright, after all and-

“Peter?” There was a bang and the door swung open. “Why are you-” Ned dropped Peter’s hand, flinching away automatically, eyes dropping to the ground. He dared not look at Peter’s face, but he was sure, by the toes he could see digging into the carpet, that his boyfriend’s face was beet red. “Oh.”

Ned scooched his foot next to Peter’s, touching their toes together before he took his chances at glancing up. May stood in the doorframe, hair up in a messy bun, scrubs still on, eyes taking in the large puddles, a very wet, very unclothed Peter, and a sopping Ned. She nodded slightly, as if to herself. “Right. Okay. Well, I got off early, but I just remembered that I have to go grab some groceries.”

“Right,” Peter squeaked, and Ned watched him surreptitiously shove his Spider-Man suit underneath the bed with his feet.

May squinted at the two of them further, as if discovering the answer to an equation she had been trying to solve for a while. “You’re welcome to stay for dinner, Ned.”

“Thank you.” He was surprised his voice still worked at all.

She smiled. “Okay, well. I’m going now. Heading off to complete some very important and time-sensitive errands.” She disappeared from the frame for a second before swinging back around, poking in just her head. “Also, I better not catch you two skipping school again.”

But all Ned could think about was the wink she gave the two of them before she left once more, Peter’s toes pressed up against his own.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i always wanted to do more with 'first,' because ned and peter are just so sweet together and i feel like there's not as much fic out there for them as there should be. i'm planning on adding more one-shots through various points in their relationship w/this series because I always have such a great time writing them.
> 
> if you enjoyed, pls leave a kudos or comment letting me know what you thought! even if it's a key smash, i feel that. additionally if you have any future one shots you'd like to see, lmk! <3


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